2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Q: is APP smart enough to only use master calibration files that pertain to my lights?
I have both raw and master calibration files from Skygems remote observatories. Obviously I prefer to use their masters! My lights are taken with exposure of 300 seconds. Skygems provides 3 directories of masters: MaximDL, Pixinsight, and a third with only a date label (Nov 2021).
Below is the list of calibration files from the date label. My lights are LRGB. Luminance are binned 1x1, RGB are binned 2x2.
The filenames from MaximDL are basically the same. Could or should I use the MaximDL calibration files?
Do I need to select only the files that pertain to my lights? Or can I load all and let APP select?
For example, for darks, bin and exp time are specified in the filenames. For flats the color is also found in the filename. Is this info also embedded in FITS?
Thank you for helping!
Master_Bias 11_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime0ms-v2021-11-08-132035-000.fit
Master_Bias 12_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime0ms-v2021-11-08-132035-000.fit
Master_Dark 2_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime300s-v2021-11-25-092443-000.fit
Master_Dark 3_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime10s-v2021-11-25-092511-000.fit
Master_Dark 4_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime15s-v2021-11-25-092519-000.fit
Master_Dark 5_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime30s-v2021-11-25-092528-000.fit
Master_Dark 6_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime60s-v2021-11-25-092535-000.fit
Master_Dark 7_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime10s-v2021-11-25-092537-000.fit
Master_Dark 8_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime15s-v2021-11-25-092544-000.fit
Master_Dark 9_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime30s-v2021-11-25-092553-000.fit
Master_Dark 10_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime60s-v2021-11-25-092554-000.fit
Master_Dark 11_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime10s-v2021-11-27-091649-000.fit
Master_Dark 12_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime15s-v2021-11-27-091651-000.fit
Master_Dark 14_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime120s-v2021-11-27-091653-000.fit
Master_Dark 15_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime180s-v2021-11-27-091702-000.fit
Master_Dark 16_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime300s-v2021-11-27-091704-000.fit
Master_Dark 17_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime600s-v2021-11-27-091706-000.fit
Master_Dark 34_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime600s-v2021-11-08-132057-000.fit
Master_Flat Blue 1_Blue_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime4s-v2021-11-25-092604-000.fit
Master_Flat Green 5_Green_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime7s-v2021-11-08-132148-000.fit
Master_Flat Ha7 1_Ha7_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime8s-v2021-11-25-092632-000.fit
Master_Flat Luminance 5_Luminance_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime12s-v2021-11-08-132157-000.fit
Master_Flat O3 1_O3_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime9s-v2021-11-25-092641-000.fit
Master_Flat Red 2_Red_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime4s-v2021-11-25-092648-000.fit
Master_Flat Red 3_Red_2048x2048_Bin2x2_Temp-20C_ExpTime4s-v2021-11-25-092707-000.fit
Master_Flat Red 4_Red_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime4s-v2021-11-08-132251-000.fit
Master_Flat S2 1_S2_4096x4096_Bin1x1_Temp-20C_ExpTime4s-v2021-11-25-092713-000.fit
Ah SkyGems I use sometimes as well. 🙂 Actually, you'd want to make your own masters as these are very specific to the application used for processing. APP does very good calibration and it's preferred to have the raw darks, bias etc. and create your own masters. APP is smart enough, when it's in the header data, to apply them to your lights.
Ah SkyGems I use sometimes as well. 🙂 Actually, you'd want to make your own masters as these are very specific to the application used for processing. APP does very good calibration and it's preferred to have the raw darks, bias etc. and create your own masters. APP is smart enough, when it's in the header data, to apply them to your lights.
In other words, if I make masters from the Skygems raw files, I can load the entire directory, but APP will only use the master files that pertain to my lights? For example, I choose all MD files for darks, but APP will only use 300 second exposure to match my lights?
What is it about these prebuilt masters that makes them unsuitable for APP?
I wouldn't use their MD files, that may not work properly in APP, if you download their raw subs and make your own MD's that's best. But yes, APP will then use the darks with the same exposure/gain etc. matched to the lights.
The thing with using masters from another application is that that application likely used very different algorithms to process the data and prepare a good master. This can be (and most of the time is) different from what APP does and therefore may not function properly as a master.
